Duncan Jones To Direct Adaptation of Tony Kent’s Killer Intent

Duncan Jones is not too busy at the moment, understandable after the family welcomed a new release recently. I mean, he’s only writing and directing a film adaptation of 2000AD’s ROGUE TROOPER. So, it is with some relief we are pleased to announce that Duncan has decided to get stuck into creating a TV show, an adaptation of Tony Kent’s KILLER INTENT!

Here’s the full press release to wet your whistle…

Liberty Films, the London and LA based independent production company of Stuart Fenegan and Duncan Jones, today announced plans for an ambitious television adaptation of Tony Kent’s outstanding thriller KILLER INTENT.

The acclaimed filmmaker Jones will direct and executive produce the series, bringing his bold and extraordinary vision to the project. Tony Kent will be adapting his novel alongside an American-style writers’ room of established TV talent.

Executive Producer Stuart Fenegan acquired the screen rights for KILLER INTENT in advance of the hardback release earlier this year, and it will be Liberty Films’ first foray into television. Jones and Fenegan have previously worked exclusively in feature films with credits such as MOON, SOURCE CODE, WARCRAFT and MUTE.

Director Duncan Jones says: “Tony’s writing style is already so cinematic, working with him and a room of writers to adapt his first book will be a thrill. I’m excited to get my teeth into some contemporary set action, and have time to develop characters over a series rather than a single film.”

Author Tony Kent says: “It’s an extraordinary honour to have Duncan Jones and Liberty Films adapting KILLER INTENT for TV. I’m absolutely blown away to be working with such outstanding talent, particularly as I have been a big fan going right back to the release of MOON almost 10 years ago.”

Producer Stuart Fenegan says: “I’ve loved the work of John Grisham and Lee Child for years. When I read an early draft of KILLER INTENT I knew it was special and deserved a place on the shelf, and on the screen, alongside those authors. Having spent a great deal of time with Tony discussing his characters and the journeys they will embark on in future books, I know television is the right medium in which to do them justice.”

KILLER INTENT is the first in the series of thrillers featuring intelligence agent Joe Dempsey, Irish barrister Michael Devlin and American television journalist Sarah Truman. Kent’s widely praised debut novel was selected in the national press as one of the “must-read books of 2018” and was recently featured in Zoe Ball’s Book Club on ITV where it was described as: “A thriller that really does thrill… absolutely compulsive, immensely enjoyable.”

KILLER INTENT is published by Elliott & Thompson.

LIBERTY FILMS was founded in 2005 by producer Stuart Fenegan and director Duncan Jones. Established in the competitive London advertising industry, their successful creative partnership has resulted in four feature films to date: MUTE starring Alexander Skarsgård, Paul Rudd and Justin Theroux, for Netflix, launched in February 2018; WARCRAFT, for Legendary Entertainment, Atlas Entertainment and Universal Pictures, grossed $430 million at the worldwide box office in 2016; the critically acclaimed SOURCE CODE, featuring Jake Gyllenhaal was released by Summit Entertainment in 2011; and MOON, Jones’ feature directorial debut, led by Sam Rockwell, won the BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer in 2009. Fenegan was also nominated with MOON for the BAFTA for Best British Film.

TONY KENT grew up in a close-knit Irish family in London and studied Law in Scotland. Before being called to the bar, Tony was a heavyweight amateur boxer when he won a host of national titles. Now one of the UK’s leading barristers, Tony is a regular figure at London’s Old Bailey, where his case history includes prosecuting and defending many high-profile, nationally reported trials. The next book in Kent’s series is MARKED FOR DEATH, which will be released in February 2019.

ELLIOTT & THOMPSON is an independent publisher best known for popular non-fiction including the No. 1 Sunday Times bestseller Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps that Tell You Everything You Need to Know about Global Politics by Tim Marshall, the top three Sunday Times bestseller Travellers in the Third Reich: The Rise of Fascism through the Eyes of Everyday People by Julia Boyd, and the bestselling Classic FM books including John Suchet’s Mozart: The Man Revealed. In 2018 Elliott & Thompson made its first foray into crime fiction with thriller KILLER INTENT.